VIDEO | Bojchev: "Deepfake" - the biggest problem in the fight against disinformation

Photo Free Press

The tool "dipfake" emerged as the biggest challenge in the fight against the spread of disinformation on social networks. Although it seems like an interesting application, its misuse often serves to spoil one's image.

With this tool, anyone in front of the camera can look like anyone they want. The "deepfake" simply scans your face and compares the features with the person whose face you want to appear instead of yours.

This tool is neither new nor unknown. Such manipulations first appear in photographs, as early as the 19th century. With the development of technology, their abuse also extends to videos.

Although seen as beneficial in the film industry, "deepfake" in the media and on social networks has been a serious problem in the fight against fake news.

Abuse mostly present in politics

The biggest use of "deepfake" is to take politicians' statements out of context. The media around the world very often know how to fall for such fake recordings or photos, which first become viral on social networks like "Twitter" and "TikTok".

And social networks themselves have been struggling to deal with this phenomenon for years.

The war in Ukraine in one way further increased the spread of such recordings. The creators of these recordings often know how to manipulate various statements of Russian or Ukrainian officials.

One such recording of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, where he allegedly tells Ukrainian soldiers to surrender, quickly spread on social media, and certain media "fell" to the move, publishing the footage as true.

Election campaigns are also events in which this phenomenon knows how to dominate. The disinformation in the 2018 US election was largely among the main subjects which were then commented on in the American media.

Voice imitation

A question of perhaps most interest to those unfamiliar with the case is how the voice is transmitted in these videos, and how it goes unnoticed in the "deepfake" content.

The creators of these recordings are so skilled and skilled that they edit the voice so accurately and precisely to sound exactly like the person being abused. Technology has reached such a level that someone's voice can be perfectly imitated in a program in just a few seconds. There is also such a tool "Microsoft".

By mimicking the voice, such content seems even more real, making it even easier for people to believe it.

Celebrities on porn sites

Celebrities are also a frequent target of the "deepfake". Videos of famous people (actors, musicians, athletes) often appear on websites full of pornographic content.

So, for example, on the social network "TikTok" recently Explicit footage has surfaced from the famous American singer Billie Eilish, which were then deleted.

Information also appeared in Britain where many young girls were victims of "deepfake", that is, their faces were used in very explicit recordings by their classmates who wanted to harm them.

How are states dealing with this?

Many countries around the world have been fighting against "deepfake" content for years.

For instance, England and Wales banned them pornographic "deepfake" content, and the authorities there will punish such illegal content with large sums.

In the previous period and China has decided to work more seriously on this problem. Beijing recently announced the first "anti-deepfake" laws. Their goal is to prevent the misuse of this technology while the country adapts to the rapid development of the artificial intelligence industry.

From now on, just like ads in China, people will be able to see a small label at the bottom of these videos and images, letting viewers know that it's not real content.

In 2020, the European Union published the "White Paper on Artificial Intelligence", proposing a series of measures for the research and development of artificial intelligence and its supervision.

The most worrying thing about all of this is the fact that the "deepfake" is yet to expand and build. With the advancement of technology and artificial intelligence, the creators of this content will have much more powerful means and tools in creating that content.

The fight against the spread of fake news remains one of the biggest problems of modern democracies, the solution of which has not yet been found.

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